Detector-bar apparatus.



"N0. 685,339. Patented Oct. 29, I901.

W. T. MEAD.

DETECTOR BAR APPARATUS.

2 Sheets8heet l (Application filed Jan. 18. 1901'.)

(,No Model.)

No. 685,339. Patented Oct. 29, I901.

W. T. MEAD. A

DETECTOR BAR APPARATUS.

(Application filed Jan. 18. 1901.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet" N \NITNESSEE. 1 lflvEm uq. '7. M

mo w/za UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLARD T. MEAD, OF LANSINGBURG, NEW YORK, ASSIGN OR TO PNEUMATIC RAILWAY SIGNAL COMPANY, OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK, A CORPORA- TION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

DETECTOR-BAR APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 685,339, dated October 29, 1901.

Application filed January 18, 1901- Serial No. 43,829. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.- Be it known that I, WILLARD T. MEAD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Lansingburg, in the county of Rensselaer and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Detector-Bar Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved detec- IO tor-bar apparatus; and it consists in the mechanism hereinafter described and claimed.

The object'o'f the invention is to permit the use of two or more operating devices for a single detector-bar apparatus in which any one operating device can be used to operate the detector-bar apparatus when any other operating device is in either its normal or its worked position and without setting or returning the latter operating device. This permits the use of one detector-bar apparatus for two or more switch-movements.

In yard constructions switches are often required to be so close together that the ordinary forty-five-foot detector-bar cannot be employed for each switch, because there is not sufficient track room therefor. Under these circumstances it becomes necessary to have a single detector-bar fulfilits functions for two switches, or in some cases the de- 0 tector-bar may be divided into a series of detector-bars operating simultaneously, or both constructions may be used conjointly.

In the present device the ordinary detectorbar mechanism is employed; but instead of 5 using the ordinary links and throwing them clear over from one inclination to the opposite inclination at each operation of the switch the links carrying the detector-bar in the present device are thrown from one ll1-' 4o clination to the vertical position and then back again to the original position. These links are operated by the usual connectingrod and rock-shaft.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows a double I slip-switch provided with operating mechanism and detector-bars, the latter being supplied with their operating mechanisms of the present invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the slot mechanism for guiding and retaining the means for operating the rock-shafts of the detector-bars. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is avertical section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic View of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a rail and a detector-bar with its links and a portion of its operating mechanism.

The mechanism is shown as applied to a double slip-switch.

In the drawings, A A represent one track, and B B represent another.

X X are frogs at crossing-points of said two tracks. The device is so arranged that trainsmay pass either along the track A A or along the track B B, or may pass from the track A to the track B or from the track B to the track A, and vice versa. In order to accomplish these results, the outer rail of the track A and of the track 13 is made continuous in a curved rail a", and the outer rail of the track B is made continuous with the outer rail of the track A in the rail a A suitable double switch a, in a parallel curve tion with the rails a. b and b a. Other double switch-points A A are used for connecting the track A with the track A and the track 13' with the track B. The double switch-points A A and c c are operated by mechanism that maintains constant relations between them all.

Referring to Fig. 1, the left-hand end of the switch-point c is connected to the corresponding end of the switch-point AP by means of a bridle o, and the left-hand endof the switchpoint A is attached to the corresponding end of the switch-point c by the bridle v Bot-h bridles o and o are connected to a switchbar to. The bridle Q) is shown connected to the switch-bar by a link 1;. So, too, at the other end of the apparatus the right-hand end of the switch-point A is connected to the corresponding end of the switch-point c by the bridle 17, which is connected to the switch-bar 10 by the link t and the righthand end of the switch A is connected to the right-hand end of the switch 0 by the bridle 0 that is operated by the switch-bar w Detector-bars are provided for protecting each of the positions of the switch-points. A detector-bar is provided adjacent to each curved rail 0. CLO, a short detector-bar is provided adjacent to the middle of the switch-V points A A and a short detector-bar is provided on each of the rails 11 a Z) a between the frogs X X and the center of the mechanism. The arrangement is such that in whichever direction the train is to pass there will be at least a sufficient length of detectonbars under the wheels of the cars so that at any time d uring the passage of a car there will be at least one detector-bar under a wheel. All these detector-bars are so connected as to be operated when either of the motion-plates Z or Z is moved. Each of these detector-bars is provided, as shown in Fig. 6, with links (Z, pivoted to the detector-bar D and to a support (1, attached to a suitable base, but preferably fixed upon the rail, and each detectorbar has a connecting-rod d operated by a rock-arm D or D The foregoing detector-bar mechanism in connection with a double slip-switch is well known.

The present improvement relates to the operating mechanism for the detector-bars. In the drawings the operating mechanism is shown as actuated by pneumatic power through a pair of cylinders Y Y, each cylinder operating a motion-plate Z Z. Each of the motion-plates has a slot .2 .2, provided with a diagonal middle portion and with horizontal end portions set in lines parallel to each other and to the line of movement of the motion-plate. On each of the slots is a pin or roller attached to the switch-bar to 10, so that when the motion-plate is moved the switches are set by the action of the diagonal middle portion of the slot upon the said pin or roller and are locked when the pin rests in either end portion of said slot. Any suitable switchlock connected to the switch-points or to a part moving in correspondence therewith and any suitable signaling mechanism to the operating-station may be employed with this mechanism. In the drawings locking-bars S S are connected with the switch-points and the switches are locked in their normal and reverse positions by any suitable mechanism-for instance, by that shown and described in United States Patent No. 647,483, Figs. 21, 22, and 22 thereof. The switches cannot be thrown while a car is on the switch because the detector-bars resist the action of the motor mechanism and the locks cannot be released. From each motion-plate Z and Z there extends a connecting-rod 2 e having a pin or roller .2 2 Figs. 2 and 4,

resting in guideways or slots in a guideblock T T. Preferably this guide-block is hollow internally and has parallel sides, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, and in each side is a guideway or slot, in the form now to be described, for the purpose of supporting and guiding the rollers 2 2 and their connected parts. The connecting-rods a a run within the guide blocks T and T, respectively. From the end of each connecting-rod Z2 a hangs a link 2 .2 which connects with a rock-arm Z Z upon a rock-shaft Z Z that may for convenience be squared. Upon each rock-shaft are a series of rock-arms D Fig. 6, provided each with a connecting-rod d each one of which is connected to one of the detector-bars above mentioned. The two rockshafts Z Z are connected by rock-arms Z Z and a link Z so that whenever either of the rock-shafts Z or Z is turned and sets its detector-bars the other of the rock-shafts turns also and sets its detector-bars.

The slots or guideways in the guide-blocks T T are shaped as shown in Fig. 2, having a substantially horizontal middle portion tand two terminal depending portions #21 The rollers e on the ends of the connecting-rods .2 fit in said slots or guideways throughout their movements. The throw of the piston of each cylinder Y or Y is suiIicient to move the rollers e or from one end of the middle portion 2! of the slot to the other end of such middle portion. Consequently when the switch is set either at normal or at reverse the roller 2 or e is in one end or the other of said middle portion 25. If new we set one end of the switch-points A 0, c, and A in the position shown on the left in Fig. 1, the roller .24 takes a position at the right-hand end of the slot 25, as shown in Fig. 2. If new the other roller is in the left-hand end of its slot t and it is desired to throw the switches operated by the piston of the cylinder Y, the connecting-rod 2 and roller a must move over to the right-hand end of the slot 25in which the roller runs. Now because the two sets of switch mechanisms are connected together by the link Z the movement of the piston in the cylinder Y would strain and break the parts connected with either or both of the switch-movements, and therefore the depending portions 6 t of the slot 15 are provided for, and as the roller e moves from the left-hand end of its slot 25 to the righthand end thereof the roller 2" descends in its slot until the roller 2 has reached the middle of its path in its slot i, at which time the roller z has reached the bottom of the depending slot 6 and then while the roller e completes its movement from the middle of the slot t to the right-hand end thereof the roller .2' rises from the bottom of the depending slot i to the top thereof. In other words, the angular movement of the rock-arms Z Z in passing from an end of the slot 6 to the bottom of the depending slots 15 or t is exactly the same as the angular movement of the other rock-arm Z or Z in passing from one end of the slot 25 to the other end thereof, thus permitting either of two motor mechanisms or actuating devices to operate a set of detectorbars for the usual purpose of protecting the related switches and permitting this to occur when the actuating devices move in either the forward or the backward direction. The slot i is curved, as shown in Fig. 2, so as to produce the same angular movement of the rock-arm Z or Z as said rock-arm has when the roller #1 or 2 moves from the upper end to the lower end of the slot t or 1?, and inasmuch as the depending slots 25 and t areat right angles to the connecting-rods 2 .2 the movement of the roller 2 or 55 up and down the slot 25' or i does not tend to cause endwise movement of the connecting-rod, and hence does not affect the connected mechanism.

The links d of the detector-bars when the latter are operated are thrown from the inclination shown in Fig. 6 to a vertical position and from that position back to the original one, and are not thrown in the usual way at each operation of the switch from said inclination past the vertical and to the opposite inclination and thence back to the original position. This movement of the links d is caused by the links 2 .2 acting on the rock arms Z Z What I claim is:-

1. The combination of a detector-bar apparatus, two operating devices therefor, and means for setting and returning the detectorbar apparatus by one of the operating devices when the other operating device is in either its normal or its worked position and without setting or returning the latter operating device, substantially as described.

2. The combination in a detector-bar apparatus, of a switch mechanism, two switch-operating devices for setting said switch mechanism, detector-bar apparatus for said switch mechanism, and means for setting and returning the detector-bar apparatus by one of the operating devices when the other operating device is in either its normal or its worked position and without setting or returning the latter operating device, substantially as described.

3. The combination of two switch mechanisms, two switch-operating devices for setting said switch mechanisms,detector-bar apparatus for said switch mechanisms, and connections from said operating devices for setting and returning the whole of said detectorbar apparatus by one of the operating devices when the other operating device is in either its normal or its worked position and without setting or returning the latter oper ating device, substantially as described.

4:. The combination of a switch mechanism, two switch-operating devices for setting said mechanism, a detector-bar apparatus for said switch mechanism, and connections from each operating device for operating said detectorbar apparatus by one of said operating devices independently of the other, substantially as described.

5. The combination of two switch mechanisms, two switch-operating devices for setting said switch mechanisms,detector-bar apparatus for said switch mechanisms, and connections from each operating device for operating said detector-bar apparatus by one of said operating devices independently of the other, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a switch mechanism, two switch-operating devices for setting said switch mechanism, detector-bar apparatus for said switch mechanism, and connections whereby one of the operating devices actuates said detector-bar apparatus including a yielding connection whereby one operating device yields to the movements of the other operating device without setting or returning the former, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a switch mechanism, two switch-operating devices for setting said switch mechanism, a detector -bar apparatus for said switch mechanism, connections from each switch-operating device for operating the detector-bar apparatus, and means .for permitting one operating device to yield to the movements of the other operating device with out setting or returning the former, substantially as described.

8. The combination of two switch mechanisms, a switch-operating device for setting each switch mechanism, a detector-bar apparatus for said switch mechanisms, connections from each switch mechanism for operating the whole detector-bar apparatus simultaneously, and means for actuating either switch mechanism together with the whole detector-bar apparatus simultaneously by one operating device without setting or returning too the other switch-operating device, substantially as described.

9. In a switch mechanism, two sets of detector-bars, connections between the same for operating all the bars simultaneously, two switch operating devices for setting said switch mechanism comprising in each the rods a 2 each rod having a pin or roller c 2 moving in a guide having a longitudinal por-' tion 25 and transverse portions t, 15 a rock shaft for each set of detectonbars, a connec-' tion from each rod to a rock-shaft, and a con-' nection between the two rock shafts, substantially as described.

WILLARD r.- MEAI').

Witnesses F. L. Doneson, WM. H. J ARvIs. 

